Damaged Front Fender

[hillkw]

I can't believe I'm the first one to do this.

For those of you 4-wheelers that may attempt to climb over a log or curb.

I accidentally ran over my driveway landscape cobblestones with my 07 Pilot last week. In the past ten years I have also done that once each with my wife's Impala and my previous Ford Explorer with no damage.

To add to my anger at myself is the fact that the front fender buckled outward near the front driver door above the mudflap.

Over the weekend while trying to asses and fix the damage I discovered the reason it happened.

The front mudflap (only on the Drivers side) covers a heavy gage steel welded bracket, it is bolted to the bottom of the body with three heavy bolts (aprox 3/8" dia) it is about 4" wide and hangs down about 4" just behind the front wheel.

When climbing over the cobblestone the mudflap area came down hard on the stone. When the hidden bracket inside the mudflap hit the cobblestone it bent upward and hit the bottom edge of the fender pushing it upward.

I think this bracket is there only for manufacturing or towing, I pulled off the mudflap on the passenger side just to compare and there was no steel bracket there.

I hope this info will save others this damage. That bracket really reduces roadclearance in that area right behind the wheel.